National Newswatch

Topics

Emma Loop

White House points to 'longstanding unfair trade practices' when asked about Gordie Howe bridge opening

Bridge authority, Canadian government say opening tied to testing work. For months, Canadian officials have maintained that the long-awaited opening of the $6.4 billion Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor, Ont., is dependent on various testing and commissioning tasks. But fresh comments from a Canadian cabinet member as well as two top U.S. officials suggests there is a...

Bill Graveland

Carney, Smith sign carbon price deal, suggest fall 2027 pipeline approval

Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said Friday they're eyeing a fall 2027 start date for construction of a new bitumen pipeline to the West Coast. It's part of a plan to accomplish the remaining steps of the landmark energy deal they signed last fall. There is to be a new scheme for carbon emissions pricing in...

Wolfgang Depner

Eby says Ottawa is rewarding Alberta's 'bad behaviour' with pipeline agreement

British Columbia Premier David Eby says the federal government is rewarding Alberta for "bad behaviour" by agreeing to push for a new bitumen pipeline to the West Coast. Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith signed an "implementation agreement" to advance a West Coast pipeline to Ottawa's major projects office by July 1. The new agreement commits both...

Peter Mansbridge, Chantal Hébert, Bruce Anderson

Good Talk -- If This Is The Price Of Becoming An Energy Superpower, Is It Too High?

Mark Carney says Canada can become an energy superpower, given its potential in oil, gas, electricity, solar, and wind. But as we are seeing now, to get there, some old promises need to change. Is that price too high? Is the Liberal Party's unity at stake? Just some of the questions and one of the issues for Chantal and Bruce...

Allison Jones

Liberal MP Nate Erskine-Smith seeks advice on next steps following nomination loss

Liberal MP Nate Erskine-Smith is asking supporters for advice on what his next steps should be, with his potential bid to become Ontario Liberal leader in doubt following a nomination loss. Erskine-Smith was vying to represent the provincial party in the upcoming Scarborough Southwest byelection but lost a nomination race last weekend. He had said he wanted to run in...

Polls

Ontario Politics: PCs Lead Provincial Voting Intentions as Cost of Living Remains Top Concern

The Ontario Progressive Conservatives continue to lead in provincial voting intentions, while the Ontario Liberals sit within striking distance, according to a new Leger survey of Ontarians.

David Valentin

Toronto: Chow 50%, Bradford 37%; Traffic Frustration Dominates City Mood

A new Liaison Strategies survey shows Mayor Olivia Chow holding a 13-point lead over Councillor Brad Bradford among decided voters, while Torontonians express overwhelming frustration with traffic congestion and road construction coordination. If a mayoral election were held today among decided voters, Olivia Chow would receive 50% support, followed by Brad Bradford at 37% and another candidate at 13%. Among...

Opinion

Chris Selley

Parties had better clean up nomination races before the government decides to

What are voters to make of a political party that can’t properly manage a riding nomination? The Ontario Liberals are the latest to pose that question implicitly — and not for the first time — to the electorate. Nate Erskine-Smith, a departing federal Liberal MP and presumed candidate for the provincial party’s leadership, alleges all manner of skulduggery in the...

Aaron Wherry

With a possible referendum looming, Carney and Smith find common ground on carbon pricing

Prime minister says he hopes Albertans see a 'Canada that works.' On Friday morning in Calgary, Mark Carney and Danielle Smith shook hands, then signed and posed with official copies of an "implementation agreement for the Canada-Alberta memorandum of understanding," an eight-page document bound up in profound questions of climate change, resource development, economic sovereignty and national unity. "Today is...

News

Christopher Reynolds

'It's insane': Summer gas prices could hit record highs, upending budgets and travel

Since gas prices started climbing in March, Sarah Bradley has found herself bargain hunting across multiple grocery stores in Montreal. "Before, I'm a one-stop shop person," she said. "Now I think twice. I'm like, OK, do I need that from IGA or can I find it somewhere else for cheaper? "It's insane," she said of the cost of filling up...

Alessia Passafiume

AFN chief warns against changes to major projects development rules, calls for debate

The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations says proposed changes to major project development rules "are not acceptable" and risk trampling on the rights of First Nations. The federal government is proposing giving authority to review interprovincial pipelines and transmission lines, and offshore renewable energy projects, to the Canada Energy Regulator instead of the Impact Assessment Agency of...

Politician's Pen

Tim Houston

Why Nova Scotia Is Ready to Support Canada’s Defence, Security and Resilience Bank

Canada’s selection as home to the new Defence, Security and Resilience Bank affirms our country’s credibility with its allies and its leadership at a time when defence, security and economic resilience is critical. Nova Scotia was one of the first to raise our hand in support of Canada’s bid.

Adam van Koeverden

Building Canada Strong Through Sport

Opinion (Continued) More

Rick Bell

Danielle Smith shoots down her critics in scoring big pipeline deal

Premier Danielle Smith is confident. On the pipeline deal with Mark Carney she believes she speaks for most Albertans

Don Braid

Smith's economic wins with Ottawa are historic and may move the dial on separatism

Smith may have set up this province for decades of economic gains

Carson Jerema

Carney ensnares Danielle Smith in pipeline blackmail

The “plan” to approve a pipeline, which was detailed by the federal and Alberta governments on Friday, is a perfect example, not of federal-provincial co-operation, but of why Canada can’t build infrastructure. Rather than being subject to market demand, the decision to build or not to build is being driven entirely by politics.

Sharan Kaur

Ottawa and Alberta just struck a carbon deal that could actually move the needle

Alberta and Ottawa just did something nobody expected, and it actually matters. For years, the story of Canadian climate policy has been a familiar one: Ottawa sets ambitious targets, Alberta pushes back, and the country lurches forward with neither the unity nor the urgency the moment demands. Today, that story finally has a new chapter.

Political Pulse Panel

Ottawa and Alberta reach landmark energy agreement, but at what cost?

The Political Pulse panel breaks down Prime Minister Mark Carney’s energy agreement with Alberta – and the political compromises that come with it.

Andrew Phillips

‘Absurdity piled upon absurdity’ — Alberta independence movement collapsing under its own weight

Good news from the West: the prospect of a referendum on independence for Alberta this fall continues to collapse under the weight of its own absurdities and contradictions.

Colleen Giroux-Schmidt, Merran Smith

Ottawa wants to double electricity supply. Provinces will determine whether it happens

Two questions burn at the top of Canada’s economic agenda: how to accelerate growth, and how to mobilize the capital to fund it. Increasingly, the answer to both hinges on something we have long taken for granted: electricity. More and more, Canada’s economic agenda is pinned to projects that require abundant, cheap and low-carbon electricity. Critical minerals mining and processing...

Dan Woynillowicz

Mark Carney’s Strategy for the Age of Electricity

In January, Prime Minister Carney gave a speech in Davos that went viral with its stark honesty about a rupture in the world order. From the campaign trail to his first year in office, Carney has consistently described the challenges Canadians face as a hinge moment for the country, a turning point requiring dramatic change. And that was before the...

Andrew Coyne

Canada is one of history’s most successful countries. Here’s a look at who’s trying to destroy it, and how

The recorded history of Canada stretches back more than 500 years; the unrecorded history, many thousands. It is one of the world’s oldest continuously existing democracies, with a Constitution whose principal features – monarchical, federal, parliamentary, with an independent judiciary and (ahem) an unelected Senate – have remained unchanged since 1867.

Jason Markusoff

For Danielle Smith and Alberta separatists, no clear path left for referendum after court loss

For the last torrid year in Alberta politics, so much seemed to be building toward a separation referendum this fall. Premier Danielle Smith eased the rules repeatedly for a pro-separatist petition to succeed. Right before a court first ruled against petitioners in December because of constitutional issues, her government rewrote a law to make that moot. She scheduled a series...

Lawrence Martin

America’s role as Canada’s culture-shaper is coming to an end

In the United States, the life expectancy is 78.4 years. In Canada, it’s 82.2. That would be a good statistic to insert into a response to America’s Canada-trashers, like Ambassador Pete Hoekstra or Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. A line like: “Dear Americans, if you want to live several years longer, move to Canada.” It’s a telling statistic. In the debate...

Supriya Dwivedi

Kiss your online privacy goodbye with Bill C-22, Canada

Civil liberties groups, legal experts and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce have been sounding the alarm for months on the privacy and cybersecurity issues contained in the Carney government’s Lawful Access Act, or Bill C-22. In a not-so-surprising twist, American lawmakers have now also added their voice to those warning about the bill.

Robyn Urback

Canada’s not ready for the next viral outbreak. We didn’t even bother with an inquiry on the last one

Various experts have been assuring the public over the past several weeks that the risk of a major hantavirus outbreak is low. This is a known virus, they say, unlike the novel coronavirus first observed in 2019. It doesn’t pose pandemic potential, they say, because this Andes variant requires prolonged close contact to be transmitted from human to human.

Dale Smith

Alberta separatism is not inevitable

A sense of inevitability has set into the public mood in Alberta, as it seems that a referendum on independence is going to happen this fall, in spite of a cascading series of dubious events. It shouldn’t be this way—no separatist party won an election on a clear mandate for a referendum, so there is no democratic legitimacy for one...

Bruce Anderson

Trump won by treating voters like they're stupid. It won't work in Canada.

Americans are impatient with their chaotic President. For a shockingly long time, they seemed willing to shrug off his juvenile framing of complex issues. Some winced, many looked away. Millions marched, and the rest of the world wondered why it wasn’t millions more. Trump will never stop being Trump. But he’s got fewer cards. He’s spending billions on a war...

Aaron Wherry

Mark Carney wades into the deep waters of environmental regulation

Perhaps the most attention-grabbing criticism of the Carney government's proposed changes to environmental regulations and permitting has come not from across the aisle, but from within the Liberal caucus — and is being framed as a comparison with the last Conservative prime minister. "This goes beyond what [Stephen] Harper proposed when he was in power," Steven Guilbeault, the former environment...

Andrew Coyne

The process of choosing the Governor-General is the problem, not the pick herself

The controversy over Louise Arbour’s appointment as Governor-General is unusual in that both sides cite the same set of facts. She’s a former Supreme Court justice, say her supporters, a former international war-crimes prosecutor, and a former UN high commissioner for human rights, among a long list of other offices and laurels. Exactly, say her opponents: a bona fide member...

Peter Donolo

Mark Carney could do the right thing and make a hero out of 23 MPs at the same time

As Mark Carney often reminds us, he is not, as he puts it, “a career politician.” In many ways, that is a good thing. After two decades of rancorous, often toxic uber-partisanship, Carney’s no-nonsense, low-key approach is a welcome relief and reassuring to Canadians who have been deeply unnerved by Donald Trump’s ongoing attacks on our country.

Don Newman

After a Year of Carney, the Conservatives are Biding Their Time

On the recent anniversary of the April 2025 election that confirmed Mark Carney and the Liberals as Canada’s government, there were many analyses offered on what the year had achieved and what the next one might hold. But few people took a closer look at what the first year of Carney’s tenure has meant to the Official Opposition, the Conservative...

Don Braid

As separatist leaders bumble, Smith hopes Ottawa deal will make them irrelevant

The political ground in Alberta could shift radically in the next few days. Premier Danielle Smith will finally have a weapon to slap down separatism. The separatist leaders, meanwhile, are also doing an excellent job of slapping down separatism. A pipeline and economic deal with Ottawa is widely expected.

Les Whittington

Canada’s stable, unified democracy at risk from Alberta’s rededicated MAGA disruptors

Commenting on the trucker convoys that took place in 2022 in Ottawa and Coutts, Alta., prominent security analyst Wesley Wark said, “I think the history of the Freedom Convoy has really not settled into the Canadian consciousness.” “It may be some time before we really figure out for ourselves what was involved here, what was at stake,” Wark, a senior...

Angus Frame

We Must Confront Our Dependence on US Tech to Protect Canadian Sovereignty

Tasha Kheiriddin

Will Carney really risk his majority over Alberta?

Prime Minister Mark Carney is avidly wooing the west — but will his own caucus trip him up? Last Friday, Carney met with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to reassure her that Ottawa’s got her back on a second bitumen pipeline from Alberta to Canada’s West Coast. After the tête-à-tête Smith said, “This morning I said ‘if’ a deal gets signed...

Rick Bell

Done! Danielle Smith expected to ink MOU pipeline deal with Carney by Friday

A deal between Premier Smith and Prime Minister Carney. Very soon. Book your seat

News (Continued) More

Anja Karadeglija

Major VPN provider says it could leave Canada over lawful access bill

Virtual private network service NordVPN says it could pull out of Canada over the federal government's proposed lawful access bill. NordVPN says it is reviewing the bill and would consider leaving Canada if the bill requires it to compromise its privacy protections. Earlier this week, The Globe and Mail reported that the encrypted messaging service Signal said it would leave...

Dylan Robertson

Former senior Canadian diplomats urge Ottawa to issue 'robust' sanctions on Israel

Scores of former senior Canadian diplomats are calling for Prime Minister Mark Carney to issue "robust" sanctions on Israel over deteriorating conditions in the Palestinian territories and Lebanon. In a letter sent to media outlets, the former diplomats also call on the federal government to review Canada's trade agreement with Israel and issue a notice that a strategic partnership agreement...

Jim Bronskill

Supreme Court recognizes intimate partner violence as a legal basis for civil damages

OTTAWA -- The Supreme Court of Canada has recognized intimate partner violence as a distinct legal basis for pursuing civil damages.

Janet French

Alberta separation petition signature sheets remain locked up after court ruling - Alberta government to appeal decision to defend its citizen initiative law

Alberta’s chief electoral officer Gordon McClure says he accepts a court’s ruling overturning his decision to authorize an Albertan to gather signatures for a proposed independence referendum. Boxes containing sheets with potentially hundreds of thousands of signatures supporting a separation referendum remain locked in a secure Elections Alberta facility, and employees will not count or verify those signatures for now...

Eleanor Wand

‘It’s sad’: former minister Dion says project approval revamp pitch latest in ‘trend’ of climate policy backlash

Former Liberal environment minister Stéphane Dion says Ottawa’s recent proposal to streamline major project reviews—which some environmentalists say could result in “the most consequential change to the fabric of Canadian environmental law in a generation”—is the latest in a trend of “backlash against climate policies.” “There is the sense that we went too far,” said Dion in an interview with...

Steven Chase

McGuinty declines to say whether Canada would send more ships through Taiwan Strait

Defence Minister David McGuinty declined to say whether Canada would continue sending warships through the Taiwan Strait, weeks after China’s ambassador warned doing so would damage a new strategic partnership Prime Minister Mark Carney has struck with Beijing. Mr. McGuinty cited operational security as a reason for not answering. “Those are operational questions, security questions – I don’t get into...

Graeme Bruce

How much damage have Canada's booze bans done to the U.S. wine industry?

As Canada enters free trade talks with U.S., these charts show Canada’s impact on booze trade. As we head into the Victoria Day long weekend, one of the busiest booze-buying weekends on the calendar, it's the second year where most Canadians are without access to American labels. When Canadian liquor stores pulled American products from shelves in early 2025, it...

Carney, Smith set to make energy announcement; carbon price deal expected

Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith are to meet today in Calgary, where they're expected to announce an agreement on the future of industrial carbon emission pricing in the province. A source with knowledge of the discussions has said the leaders are expected to reveal a plan for Alberta to raise its emission price to $130 per...

Catharine Tunney

Why the U.S. is noticing this Canadian security bill

Bill C-22 proposes to help police investigate online cases. A Liberal government bill that proposes giving police and spies easier access to information during investigations has fallen into the crosshairs of U.S. tech giants and two American congressional committees, threatening to become the latest irritant in the Canada-U.S. relationship. The bill, this government’s second attempt at passing lawful access legislation...

Ashley Burke

Military reprimanded soldiers who raised concerns about monitoring Canadians online during COVID-19

Internal review found the activity violated intelligence-gathering rules. The military reprimanded soldiers after they raised concerns about an order to monitor Canadians' online activity during the COVID-19 pandemic, CBC News has learned. But the military’s top lawyer later warned of risks associated with this kind of monitoring, and a review found it violated the rules, according to internal documents viewed...

Steven Chase

Canada could support Hormuz defence mission with vessel, demining support, satellite imagery

Defence Minister David McGuinty said Canada could contribute a vessel, demining assistance or satellite imagery if a mission to secure the Strait of Hormuz proceeds. Mr. McGuinty, who wrapped up a defence and trade visit to the United Arab Emirates and Qatar on Thursday, said a condition of this support would be “a durable cessation” of hostilities in the vital...

Alessia Passafiume

Tories question CBC funding of spoof-style Indigenous show on residential schools

Conservatives are questioning why CBC is funding a spoof program that used false pretences to lure high-profile people accused of downplaying the damage caused by residential schools into sitting for interviews. Several current and former Conservative politicians have gone on social media to denounce the production "Northland Tales." The show is being produced for CBC and APTN. The show is...

Dylan Robertson

Frequent visits to Persian Gulf show Carney's ambition goes beyond seeking investment

The Carney government is putting a new emphasis on diplomacy with Persian Gulf countries -- one that goes beyond seeking investments in Canada to arrangements touching on defence and artificial intelligence. Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand made trips to both Oman and Qatar this week, while Defence Minister David McGuinty was in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Prime Minister...

Darren Major

U.S. to slap tariffs on Canadian mushrooms as growers warn of broader risks for agriculture

U.S. pointing to agricultural tax exemptions as justification for countervailing duties. The U.S. is about to slap countervailing duties on fresh mushrooms grown in Canada, as Canadian growers warn of broader risks to the farming sector on both sides of the border. A U.S. Commerce Department fact sheet released this week and shared with CBC by the Canadian Mushroom Growers'...

Marlo Glass

Ottawa’s plan to double electricity grid ‘one step forward and two steps back,’ say environmentalists

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced his government’s plan to double the capacity of Canada’s electricity grid by 2050, in part by potentially rolling back Trudeau-era regulations for clean electricity in a move that environment experts call “a huge betrayal.”

Carney, Smith confirm energy announcement coming Friday

Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith say they'll be in Calgary on Friday to announce the next step in their landmark energy pact. Carney says it will feature an implementation agreement on industrial carbon pricing and advance a potential new pipeline. Neither he nor Smith shared more details, but the premier told the legislative assembly it would...

David Baxter

Carney says he's open to selling infrastructure like airports to finance projects

Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Thursday his government is open to selling public assets if the proceeds could help fund new infrastructure. The November federal budget and April spring economic statement both mentioned exploring new ownership options for the country's federally owned airports. As first reported by the Toronto Star, a transport ministry discussion paper published last week on...

Best place for Alberta is in Canada, PM says, after judge tosses separation petition

The best place for Alberta to be is in Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday after a judge's decision to throw out a separatist petition in the province. "Certainly a Canada that works, which is what we're pursuing," Carney told reporters. "I think the evidence — well — others will judge."

Nick Murray

Carney unveils new electricity strategy, noncommittal on 2030 climate targets

Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled Canada's long-awaited new electricity strategy Thursday, placing a heavy emphasis on expanding the role of natural gas in powering the grid as he seemed to distance the government from its 2030 Paris climate commitments. The new strategy looks to double Canada's electricity grid by 2050 and would adjust the clean electricity regulations to provide more...

Althia Raj

Carney government proposal targets extinction protections for endangered killer whales off B.C. coast

The federal government’s proposal to legally allow projects to go ahead even if they result in an entire species going extinct is directed at projects, such as ports and pipelines, that jeopardize the existence of the endangered southern resident killer whale population, several sources told the Star Wednesday.

Marie Woolf

Signal warns it would pull out of Canada if made to comply with lawful access bill

Secure messaging service Signal, which uses end-to-end encryption, is warning it would withdraw from Canada if asked to compromise its users’ privacy under Bill C-22, Ottawa’s proposed lawful access legislation. In an interview, Udbhav Tiwari, Signal vice-president of strategy and global affairs, said the company has deep concerns about measures in the bill, including its potential to introduce security vulnerabilities...

China's Xi warns Trump that differences over Taiwan could lead to conflict

China's Xi Jinping warned President Donald Trump on Thursday that the two countries could clash over Taiwan if the issue was not handled properly, an unusually harsh admonition that stood in contrast to the American leader's praise for his counterpart. The exchange at a highly anticipated summit in Beijing underscored just how far apart Trump and Xi remain on thorny...

Ari David Blaff

Falling support for Doug Ford and Ontario PCs as appetite grows for political alternatives: poll

About half of Ontarians say their impression of Premier Doug Ford has worsened in recent months and 56 per cent believe the province is headed in the wrong direction, according to a new Postmedia-Leger survey. Barely over a third (36 per cent) of Ontarians surveyed believe the province is headed in the right direction.

Stephanie Ha

After first-ever full-year loss, Honda suspends Ontario EV plant ‘indefinitely’

Honda is “indefinitely” suspending plans for a $15-billion electric vehicle project in Ontario as part of a larger overhaul of the automaker’s business model. Honda Global CEO Toshihiro Mibe held a press briefing in Tokyo on Thursday, saying the company will focus on rebuilding its automobile business structure over the next three years and reallocate more resources to hybrid models...

Laura Osman, Martin Patriquin

Canada is considering an AI chatbot ban for kids

The Liberal government is pushing ahead with a social media ban for youth, The Logic has learned. The same legislation is likely to include age restrictions for chatbots.

Steven Chase

South Korean, German bidders make final pitches on Canadian sub deal

Both South Korea and Germany are making final pitches for a lucrative contract to build 12 submarines for Canada, with Berlin dispatching its defence minister for another visit to Ottawa and the Koreans sailing their offered vessel 14,000 kilometres for a ship visit to Victoria. Prime Minister Mark Carney has said he expects to make a decision by the end...

Sarah Ritchie

Poll suggests politics, geography and trust play roles in vaccine hesitancy

A new online survey suggests nearly a quarter of Canadians say they've declined to get a vaccine recommended by their doctor -- and the data indicates most of them did so because they were concerned about potential side effects. A report from Proof Strategies released Thursday -- which is World Vaccine Day -- explores how Canadians feel about vaccines and...

Catherine Morrison

Ottawa pushing to get Canadian companies selling goods on Chinese platforms

The federal government is pushing to get Canadian companies on major Chinese e-commerce platforms as the two countries deepen their ties. International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu told The Canadian Press in a recent interview that China's e-commerce titans Alibaba and JD.com want more Canadian businesses on their platforms. "I want to help enable that," he said. "There are some options...

John Paul Tasker

Travel to the U.S. is down even more dramatically than we thought, data shows

Visits by Canadians have cratered by 42% over the last year, cell phone data reveals. The boycott by Canadians of travel to the U.S., driven largely by an aversion to President Donald Trump, his industry-wrecking tariffs and 51st state taunts, has actually been more effective than previously thought, according to new data. While official Statistics Canada figures show a roughly...

Trump offers platitudes while Xi warns of possible confrontation during China summit

President Donald Trump began his trip to Beijing on Thursday by telling Xi Jinping "it's an honor to be your friend," even as his Chinese counterpart offered a cautionary warning about avoiding a possible clash between the two nations. The stark contrast in tone underscored just how far apart the leaders remain on thorny issues including the war in Iran...

US Poli

Colleen Slevin And Nicholas Riccardi, The Associated Press

Colorado's Democratic governor commutes ex-election clerk Tina Peters' sentence after Trump pressure

DENVER (AP) -- Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Friday commuted the sentence of election conspiracy theorist Tina Peters following pressure from President Donald Trump, the latest instance of the president using his powers to reward those who echoed his baseless claims of mass fraud as the cause of his 2020 loss.

Joshua Goodman, Alanna Durkin Richer And Eric Tucker, The Associated Press

U.S. eyes indictment against Raul Castro amid pressure by Trump administration, sources tell AP

MIAMI (AP) -- The Justice Department is preparing to seek an indictment against former Cuban President Raul Castro, three people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Friday, as President Donald Trump threatens possible military action against the communist-run island.

Jesse Bedayn, The Associated Press

Kentucky Republicans race to replace McConnell while carefully keeping him at arm's length

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) -- U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell is considered such a titan in his home state that Kentucky lawmakers voted to put a statue of him alongside Abraham Lincoln in the Capitol. After overcoming polio as a child, McConnell rose to become the longest-serving Senate leader in history and helped secure a conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court...

Bill Barrow And Matt Brown, The Associated Press

Supreme Court voting rights ruling fuels a new push to defend Black representation

ATLANTA (AP) -- Same fight. New generation.

International

Dylan Robertson

Former senior Canadian diplomats urge Ottawa to issue 'robust' sanctions on Israel

Steven Chase

McGuinty declines to say whether Canada would send more ships through Taiwan Strait

Dylan Robertson

Frequent visits to Persian Gulf show Carney's ambition goes beyond seeking investment

China's Xi warns Trump that differences over Taiwan could lead to conflict

Trump offers platitudes while Xi warns of possible confrontation during China summit

Think Tank

Heather Exner-Pirot

Canadian coal – From dirty secret to critical mineral: Heather Exner-Pirot

Coal is often treated as a relic of the past – dirty, declining, and politically toxic. Yet globally, it remains indispensable, the backbone of electricity systems in Asia and the primary input for global steelmaking.

Geoffrey Sigalet, Kerry Sun, Yuan Yi Zhu

Unseating responsible government: Judicial interference in Canada’s parliamentary democracy

When the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms came into force in 1982, many warned that it would undermine the foundations of Canada’s system of parliamentary democracy and usher in a new age of judicial supremacy. For a time, those concerns appeared overstated. Canadian courts exercised a degree of restraint, and the basic contours of Westminster parliamentary governance remained intact...

Shawn Whatley

Layers of Medicare dysfunction

Substacks

A collection of SubStack publishing within Canadian public affairs.

Dean Beeby

Protecting a pedophile's privacy

Canada’s privacy laws are supposed to protect ordinary citizens from unwarranted intrusions into their personal lives. But they can also protect pedophiles. Dead pedophiles. Dead pedophiles from America.

John Milloy

How Polarized is Canada... And Should We Worry?

If you want to sound wise these days, just blame the crazy state of the world on polarization. If you want to sound really wise, say that fighting polarization needs to be part of the political agenda and be sure to blame social media and Donald Trump (although not necessarily in that order) for the current chaos. Despite it being...

Steven Staples

This bizarre F-35 crash is a red flag for Canada

An F-35 crash in Alaska should give shivers to Canada’s military. The pilot survived thankfully, but the $200 million plane was completely destroyed.

Podcasts

At Issue | Carney's energy-climate balancing act

At Issue this week: Prime Minister Mark Carney juggles fighting climate change while pushing energy development — but is caucus with him? Plus, Danielle Smith's government vows to fight a court decision to throw out a petition for an Alberta separation referendum.

Iran quagmire: why can’t the U.S. end the war?

The ceasefire in Iran has been in place for five weeks, with no clear end in sight to the war. The latest peace negotiations fell apart, with U.S. President Trump saying that the ceasefire is on “life support.” So what happens now? What kind of pain will Iran be able to tolerate? And how can the U.S. get itself out...

Is Smith playing with matches in Alberta's referendum powder keg?

This week’s court ruling on the Alberta separation petition has only raised more questions about whether the province will be holding a referendum on independence this fall. Whatever next steps Premier Danielle Smith takes will come with a great degree of risk — for her party, for the province and for Canada.

Bob Rae: How Canada Must Respond to this Age of Tyranny

In our first edition of a monthly segment, Steve is joined by “the most difficult man to introduce in Canada,” Bob Rae, to discuss how we are increasingly seeing behaviour in the world that is “tyrannical,” the fallout from the Iran War, why it has achieved nothing, why Canada must be more than just a bystander, and why Blaise Pascal’s...